


Advancing

by BriEva



Category: Darkest Powers - Kelley Armstrong, Women of the Otherworld - Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, F/M, Gen, Graduation, Multi, Not Beta Read, POV Female Character, POV Multiple, This is a updated version of an old work of mine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:56:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23813410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriEva/pseuds/BriEva
Summary: Just when Chloe Sanders is about to graduate high school in Badger Lake her powers take a jump to a level never heard of before. To make matter worse Sean Nasts decides it's time to reveal Badger Lake's existence to the Otherworld Council. But when word gets out about Chloes newfound powers things start to go haywire. Set after Thirteen, Vanishing Act & Atoning (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)
Relationships: Chloe Saunders/Derek Souza, Clayton Danvers/Elena Michaels, Eve Levine & Kristof Nast, Jeremy Danvers/Jaime Vegas, Savannah Levine/Adam Vasic
Comments: 9
Kudos: 14





	1. Chloe 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Unlike the first version of this story this one now has a direct tie to the Women of the Otherworld series. This takes place at the end of Kelley Armstrong’s short story Vanishing Act that was published in her anthology Otherworld Nights in an Alternative Universe. In ‘Vanishing Act’, Savannah and Adam are trying to help a supernatural teenager by the name of Keefer who is being hunted by Josef Nast's half of the Nasts Cabal. Savannah and Adam were able to safely get Keefer to Paige and Lucus’s home while waiting for Sean to arrive. In this….well they are not in their condo.
> 
> Timeline: I had to break this shit down to figure everyone's proper age, because of this Chloe and everyone was aged up from my original story, and let me tell you sheesh!  
> This was a lot to try and figure out. I tried to state the key points in the entire series.
> 
> I know on Kelley’s website she says the first book happens in 2001 and Savannah's ends in 2012 but here me out. Those are the publication dates and may not collide with the actual timeline in the books.
> 
> I think Bitten was in early spring 2000 or fall 1999, Stolen Fall 2000 Savannah was 12 here, Dime Store Magic Spring 2001 Savannah was 13 here, Paige 23 Industrial Magic October/November 2001, because 9/11 was mentioned to have happened a month before.
> 
> Haunted 2003/4 Savannah was 15  
> Broken 2004 the Twins were born.  
> No Humans Involved 2005  
> Personal Demon 2006  
> Living with the Dead ??? Honestly, it’s my least favorite book so I don’t remember the timeline here I will just assume it was a Year after Personal Demon.  
> Frost Bitten This story was hard to figure out timeline wise but I assume it was before the Awakening as Ramon and Liam were still considered ‘alive’. So Between Fall 2007 - February 2008 I would say as it was still winter in Alaska.  
> The Summoning, The Awakening, The Reckoning 2008 Fall “Chloe 15, Derek 16”  
> Belonging 3 months after The Reckoning Spring 2009  
> The Gathering, The Calling, The Rising 2009 Fall but before Chloe’s 16th  
> Waking the Witch, Spell Bound, Thirteen 2010 Spring  
> Atoning 2010 Summer(4 months after Thirteen, Rae goes to Badger Lake) Maya turns 17 at the end, Chloe is 16.  
> Vanishing Act 2011 (Keefer goes to Badger Lake, Savannah learns about Badger Lake)  
> Forsaken 2011 Summer (Twins start Changing)  
> Malcolm rejoins the pack 2 months later in September-ish  
> The Puppy Plan 2011 Christmas  
> Driven 2012 February/March  
> Advancing Spring 2012 Chloe 18, Derek 20 (assuming Chloe’s birthday is sometime in September with Dereks being in winter sometime.)  
> Baby Boom later 2012 Lucas and Sean start to form their own Cabal,  
> -Time skip-  
> Wolfs Bane/Wolfs Curse Summer 2020 Twins 16, Chloe 26, Derek 27 (the events of this story would still happen but with how my fanfiction is going Chloe and Derek would have known the Pack.

_ Oh…shit.  _ I think while staring in disbelief at the impossible sight at the man at my feet, in the middle of the food court at the mall. I stumble backward away from him making sure to keep a grip on my necklace that he tried to steal from me.

All around me, people start bringing out their phones, taking pictures of the fallen thief until someone tries to check his pulse. The shout for an ambulance breaks me out of my shock and causes me to jerk backward in my seat. The sudden movement swings my necklace against the bare skin of my leg. I nearly cry out at the heat nearly burning me from my stone, a quick glance down and I shove my pendant into my pocket. Forcing my hand around the stone, hoping the unnatural glow would fade now that it is cooling.

“This can't be happening,” I pant while pushing myself to escape from the food court. Despite my panic, I don’t run. Running would bring attention to myself and that is the one thing that I don’t want to do. Hell, I don’t even think I could run. My head ached with every breath while it took all my focus to keep walking straight. The room seemed to be spinning, causing me to almost trip and fall more than a few times as I made my escape. I had to leave before the police showed up. Interviews would happen and I don’t know what Sean Nast would think if I was here. Hopefully nothing. There is  _ nothing  _ to suspect me of since it’s flat out impossible!

_ How did I…? No!  _ I think with a sharp shake of my head and instantly regretting it as I finally make it to the elevator where I rest while waiting for it to come back up. Already I can hear the chattering of the shoppers talking about the pickpocket who tried to steal that woman's wallet and his sudden collapse. Apparently security has made its way towards the scene. Not that it had anything to do with me. 

I exhaled in relief when I hear the ding signaling the arrival of the elevator. As calmly as I can I shuffle into the metal box and press the button for the lowest level of the mall. Derek was supposed to meet me in the food court then together we would drive back to our hidden supernatural town. Like we have nearly every Friday this semester. But today I think it would be best to find him in the parking lot. Or well, if I can't find him he'll find me.

Luckily enough I’m alone as the elevator begins to descend, a few seconds before the doors shut I hear someone happily shout out that the collapsed man is alive. Great news for him, but it just sends my mind into a spiral.

Not happening, not happening!

  
I did not just force that  _ living _ man to stop running.

* * *

"What do you think happened Chloe?"

We left the mall as soon as we could with Derek practically dragging me behind him until we reached the jeep. He was able to use public transportation to meet me, so I drove out to meet him. Like usual though, when we're in the car together he's the one to take the wheel. It's not as if I'm a bad driver but sometimes a ghost may or may not try to hitch a ride or be a jerk and try to scare me on the road. Most of these hitchhikers catch me in the city. So even if I have a license it's just easier when leaving Toronto to just have him drive so I can send the ghosts on their way without worry. This time though we didn't get a hitchhiker, I was just drained. 

I turn to him, forcing myself to focus on his face. He's changed since I met him, before he wasn't the most attractive guy, in fact, he was kind of scary. His black hair was oily and lanky while his face was covered in some bad case of acne. Given his 6 3" height and mass he was quite intimidating. Now he's still intimidating but his acne is completely gone, a good skincare routine helping the scars fade, and his hair-which used to fall in his face- is no longer oily but soft and fluffy with his hair cut to about an inch in length. Despite his rough start with Tori as his new sister, she really knows what to use when it comes to skin and hair care, she managed to find products that have no scent yet work on managing a lot of his concerns. Or well...they would have been his concerns if he cared about them, Derek knows he isn’t the most attractive physically speaking, and I love him for him but it is nice that a lot of his insecurities puberty brought him are fading and the rest he now has control over. His confidence has definitely grown. His angular face gives him that ruggedness that a lot of bikers have while also giving him an older appearance than his actual age of 20. People still avoid him but now I catch some women giving him  _ the _ eye. It didn't help that most of his shirts fit him rather well instead of the loose-fitting ones he used to wear.

"I told you what happened,' I mumble. No need to raise my voice, I know he can hear me. He let out a soft growl.

"You said you thought you controlled-"

"I know I did-"

"A  _ living _ person which is completely impossible." He continues as if I hadn't said a thing. "You powers control the  _ dead _ , not the living."

"But that's what happened!" I shout, causing him to wince. Shit, werewolves you see, have some amazing hearing, being this close and shouting into his ear essentially cannot be comfortable. "When was the last time you have ever seen me this exhausted from using my powers?" I lower my volume to reasonable levels yet somehow my voice gets even more intense with every word. "Never. You know why? Because everything is too easy for me. The hardest thing I have trouble with is summoning one specific ghost when there are bodies around me. That's only because I need to tone down my power. Hell, I can even control other necromancers zombies just as easily as my own- and that is supposed to be the most difficult thing a necromancer can do. This is the first time my powers have ever exhausted me completely!" 

Panting I realize that, while I had managed to keep my volume down I wasn’t able to breathe as easily. I was so exhausted...I hate this. This was a different type of exhaustion than I was used to, burnt out, drained, weak...

I hate thinking of myself as weak.

"Obviously, I've reached my limit. I can now control the dead  _ and _ the living. If only for a short amount of time." I think back to how long the thief must have been frozen. It couldn't have been more than half a minute a most.

It took me so long to accept what I do. It's so wrong, so disturbing. Souls come to me, like a moth to a flame, if they bug me then I can scare them off easily enough. Imagine them tied up, bound and gagged and they can't escape me. They can change how they look, show me their death face even when bound, but they can't move. Can't call out, they feel no pain...if I wanted to I could just take them and shove them back into their own body. Make a zombie out of them and control them like a doll with a thought and a command.

But...thinking back, I'm not controlling their body just their-

"It's possible that's what necromancers can do all along," I whisper out as I shut my eyes. "Not control the dead, but control the soul, so if that's the case it shouldn't matter if that soul is within a body out without it. The dead may be easier because it's apart from the body, it's free-range. But given how tough it is for an average necromancer to raise one human zombie no one must have gotten strong enough to control the soul of a living person."

Until me.

"Chloe…" he whispers.

I look his way, seeing the worry etched in his face, the fear in his eyes, and I gulp. I know he isn't afraid of me like many of our instructors are. Besides Tori, I'm the strongest of the Genesis subjects, and the fact that I'm the last necromancer in our group proves how uncomfortable others are around me.

When Sean was searching for the remaining subjects and gathering them to Badger Lake he learned that shortly after the remaining 4 necromancers had their powers activated they died. One car accident, a suicide, a heart attack, or an asthma attack. I probably would have had a heart attack if I wasn't taken to the hospital and drugged until slowly accepting the concept of the supernatural world. Those necromancers were like me, none of them knew of their abilities. They weren't prepared for ghosts to shart showing up, to haunt them to scare them. That car accident is possibly because the guy had a hitchhiker who scared him off the road. A solution that I mentioned was possible after nearly being run off the road myself. The others probably had been scared or ran until they couldn't breathe anymore. All things that had the Edison Group or the Cabal found them earlier could have been avoided.

Like me Derek is the last surviving werewolf, just being a werewolf is enough reason to freak out the adults, it's why he also gets the disgusted looks and fear. But when he looks at me that way it's not because he's afraid _of_ me, but _for_ me.

"If for some reason you were able to use your powers on that guys...and the Nast ever learns the true extent of your powers…" he whispers.

They'll never let me leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ TO UNDERSTAND HOW I CAME TO THIS PLOT!
> 
> sooooooooooooooooo
> 
> I am perhaps one of Kelley Armstrong's most vocal fans, so I will sometimes ask her questions on Twitter and I'm just lucky that she replies to me.  
> One of those questions I asked was of Tee, Chloe and Jaime how do they rank? Her reply was this;
> 
> "Tee wins for strongest, though not for sanest ;) Chloe wins for most natural ability. Jaime wins for effort and learned skill."
> 
> She then explained that Chloe has the most control, which was the GOAL of my understanding of the Genius Project. To make using their powers easier, that also made them work stronger, though probably not as much as I had initially thought.  
> I can't remember when I had asked her this but I think she also explained to me that Chloe's power level so to speak, in the Reckoning was also equal as Jaime's in No Humans Involved. Since then I can easily see Chloe's powers Advance, hehe, faster than Jaime's as Jaime was in her 40's when she learned you didn't need to have a ritual to summon a ghost or make a Zombie. Chloe also has the flexibility to use a Necromanger's glow as a bait and hook, but her powers shouldn't level out until her mid to late 20's so her powers are still growing at the time of this fanfic.
> 
> Unlike other Necromancers in her series, Chloe is the only one I remember using her abilities to stop a Ghost from moving. At least in The Awakening, she did. According to her, she imagined a rope binding the Ghost and he couldn't move after that. I can't remember anyone else in this series doing that to any other Ghost.
> 
> That scene ultimately leads me to this conclusion that a Necromancer can use their glow as a weapon as well so long as their minds are imaginative. Maybe this is why the stronger necromancers are in more creative fields. Jaime as a TV personality, Chloe as a producer, Tee as I assume avid book reader.
> 
> So how you may ask does this mean Chloe can control the living?
> 
> Well, see here.
> 
> A Necromancer, from my understanding, seems to be able to control souls, they summon them, bind them, force them into bodies like puppets and control them with their minds. They can make tears and portals between the dimensions, as Chloe was able to make a small tear at 15 to free the Demi-Demon. She can then basically summon a demon. This is a different type of entity yet if that demon was within a dead body, as in she put the demon in there, Chloe can control the demon somewhat though not a lot. Also, Chloe can fully let another spirit possess her body. Yet her body still lives. It seems to me to be something like a distant relative to shamans and benadanti in the WOTOW universe. And Benadanti forces their will into a command to fight demons, while shamen are able to connect and interact with spiritual entities and leave their bodies for short periods of time, and still live. This leaves Necromancers with a weird combination of abilities and some ups and downs.
> 
> Not a fighting ability, but able to force their glow onto others.  
> Able to interact with spirits, and affect them to a degree...
> 
> So this leads me to think of bodies in this world as physical barriers, but if given the right circumstances...Chloe can force her glow INTO another. Temporarily controlling them, if you need an even easier time making sense of this, think of Bran from GoT when he wargs Hodor. 
> 
> Essentially Chloe is forcing her will onto another, that's what Necromancers do. It's just because the easiest souls for her to catch are free ones, aka the dead. So the term Necromancer came to be! Even if this covers their origins.
> 
> This DOES NOT mean that Chloe can do this to everyone. She's gonna have major restrictions on who she can affect with her powers this way but the problem is that she was able to do this at all. This is gonna be the first recorded case of a Necromancer doing this, so this is gonna be bad for her because others are gonna want to now test this part of her abilities.
> 
> So I hope that made a lot of sense and now I'm sure my author's notes are longer than this first chapter. FML


	2. Eve: 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was an updated version of chapter 2 that was on Fanfiction.Net. It's mostly the same but it's a little easier to read in my opinion.

Assignment: Eve 1

The Fates are evil bitches.

I'm pretty sure I read that before or heard it in a movie. But whoever wrote it is dead right.

I'm Eve Levine black witch, Aspicio half-demon and in my afterlife career, I'm a part-time angel. And no, not the kind of angel with fluffy wings and bows and arrows that make people fall in love with each other. I hate those damn comparisons. No, the Fates wouldn't have picked me if it was for that. I'm talking about the kind of angels with a sword of fire and a job to collect escaped demons.

I'm a bounty hunter, plain and simple. You got an escaped serial killing poltergeist? I'm your witch.

Not a messenger.

"So what you're telling me is you want me to go talk to this necromancer? Scare her into stop doing what exactly?"

The Fates had morphed into their middle age form, a tall woman with long greying hair, lightly tanned skin showing the first hints of wrinkles and large violet eyes. This is their usual form when I'm around. As if appearing closer to my age will make me more reasonable. Bullshit. They should know better by now.

"Chloe Sanders, an 18-year-old necromancer, has broken one of the laws that have been placed over a thousand years ago." Croaks the hag. "We need you too…make sure she never does that again. Because should she break the law once more, she will need to be executed."

This stops me from mouthing out. An 18-year-old girl? My daughter Savannah, who is probably the strongest supernatural alive, was that age a few years ago. Now she's 22-almost 23 and living with a wannabe surfer Exaustio who's a decade older. At first, the age gap bothered me but whenever I go check up on her, especially after my unexpected time back in the land of the living, I see how happy she is with Adam, I just can't help but feel a weight off my shoulders. He loves her nearly as fiercely as me. It's comforting to know that he will do anything to prevent her from being hurt. Not that Paige or Lucus wouldn't-they even died for my daughter before I made the deal that landed me in the Fates pocket. With Adam it's just different, he's more than willing to get his hands dirty if it meant Savannah would be safe. Paige and Lucas however...well they have to fight themselves a bit but eventually, they'll do what has to be done. 

But this kid, and yeah I'm thinking of this necro as a kid, what did she do that would cause the Fates to set such an extreme smackdown? From what I know there are strict limitations on what a Necromancer can do, they can't contact their loved ones or those they knew in life, can't talk to other Necromancers, can't do this or that... The Fates basically keep other Necromancers in their own dimension as far as I know. It's rare for me to meet any in the supernatural zones. In fact, the only one I can sit for certain was that one who managed to get sent to the worst level of hell. Filled with nothing but beautiful flowers and sunshine...and serial killers of the worst kind with no memory of who they were.

"What law?" I ask, what can they do that would get them into such trouble?

"It's none of your concern Eve, just have her know that she can never do it again or she will face the consequences." The child Fate states.

Before I could say anything else the Fates dropped me into a forest. Just when I'm about to curse up a storm I hear a high pitched voice call out a "Hey". Turning around I see the back of a young girl, no a necromancer.

The glow I've seen around necromancers has always been subtle. Enough to catch the eye, but not enough to overwhelm me. I've heard of ghosts that when they see a Necromancer for the first time they seem to be in a daze. This girl's glow is definitely the brightest and clearest I've ever seen. In Toronto there is an insane Necromancer called Tee, I've seen her glow from afar, the poor thing is always being hounded by a swarm of ghosts. Even if I scare some away more come back in their place. If I could stay I could probably try to help her out, I have my own matters to see to. But Tee's glow is different from this girl, Tee's is a giant formless bright light, soft around the edges. Nothing solid like this young Necromancer in front of me, her's is like a flame that encases her entire body. Flickering in some places while smooth in others. The edges sharp, lethal, beautiful really, like white fire. I've seen flames like this before, on my own sword. Strange.

Wearing a brightly colored spaghetti strap dress that cinches on her midsection and flares out to the middle of her thighs, she hugs a towel to her chest as she talks into her phone. At her neck is a white bright stone, blazing even brighter than her glow.

"What? No, I just barely passed Physics with a B-…Yes, Physics is Derek's zone but to me, it's just gibberish. Every time he tried to explain it to me it went in one ear and out the other…You're not much better Rae!" She laughs. "Anyway I'll be at the lake soon, I'm waiting on Maya, she took Kenji for a walk and decided to climb around some..."

I take a step in her direction, hoping she could tell me where the hell I am when someone grabs me from behind.

Making sure my glare is on full blast, I'm about to chew out the moron who is stupid enough to grab me when I see a woman. This one a couple of inches shorter than me, with reddish-blond hair and clear blue eyes that are staring at me with a familiar determination that I see in the mirror almost every day. She's wearing a pair of faded blue jeans with a tucked-in silk green button-down that is bunched at her elbows. I don't bother taking in her shoes, like a ghost she could go around barefoot and it wouldn't make a difference.

"I know who you are, Eve Levine, and I will not let you lay a finger on my daughter." She snarls.

This is a first to me. Meeting an equally protective mother in the afterlife is always a hassle. Especially if that mother is guarding her daughter. I should know. The first few years after I died I spent most of the time following Savannah around, trying to figure out a way to return and protect her. She was only 12 when I died. Far too young to have to live without me. Eventually, I learned to move on with my afterlife, I could still watch over her, but she was strong, had most of the most dangerous supernaturals on her side. She was safe, and when she wasn't I now had the power to help her, even from beyond the grave. This woman here hadn't seemed to have made that quantum leap though.

"You know who I am? Well, that just makes my job a hell of a lot easier" I pull my arm free, she releases me with little effort. Smart. "So how did you know me?"

The ghost clenches her knuckles; as if that were going to scare me.

"I've been dead for over a decade," she starts. "I know the rumors, the stories. The black witch who's on the good side of the Fates. The half-demon who hunts her own kind. The one ghost who, for a short while, was brought back to life. Your name is known all throughout the dimensions, as is your picture." She materializes a poster, one with my name on it and an image of me in that damn pirate wench outfit from my first case. Below is a written warning to stay away.

"Huh," I didn't know how much of an impact I had on the dead community. But couldn't they have used a different memory?

"Stay away from my daughter." Hisses the woman, right before I can tell her to shove it we both hear an "Excuse me?" Causing us to look down to see the girl staring at me.

I look mentally measure her, she barley reaches my collar bone. Her strawberry blond hair, identical to her mothers, has a red peekaboo and is tied up into a ponytail. Showing off her multiple piercings which, now that she's closer, I can see has stones that glow twice as fiercely as her. With large light blue eyes, pale skin, and lean stature she appears to be a doll. Like Barbie's rebellious kid sister.

"Who are you? How did you get into Badger Lake?" She asks.

Badger Lake? I've heard that before…I shake off the thought. I'll figure it out later, first things first. Time to scare this girl back to the straight and narrow.

"Are you Chloe Sanders?"

Chloe's mother tenses at my side. I ignore her as I observe Chloe. Her eyes turn to slits, then I notice as she subtly shifts her weight as if she's about to either attack or run away from me. "Who's asking?"

I smirk, I like this kid. "The name's Eve, I was forced to play messenger for the Fates today in hopes of getting off of work a little earlier than usual." At her confused face I sigh, bringing up my hand I phase it through the nearest tree.

Her eyes widen in understanding, "You're a ghost."

"Yup," and then some but this kid doesn't need to know all that.

"And you're here because you have something to tell me?"

With an annoyed sigh, I nod. Once this job is done I can finally return to Kristof. Kristof Nasts is my other half so to speak. A sorcerer who was once the larder of the largest Cabal in the U.S., he died some months after I did in an accident Savannah caused. He's also Savannah's father. It took a couple of years but when I started working for the Fates we were able to work out our issues. Or well I was able to work out mine.

"Well, um what is it you need to tell me?" She finally asks.

"You broke a law," I meet her gaze. At first, all I see in her eyes is confusion. Then as if she were suddenly doused in cold water all the color leaves her face. Her large eyes bug out, making her look like that one actress from That 70's Show. What was her name again? Mina? Ah, whatever, I'll figure it out later, I've got the time. But apparently even if I don't know what she did, this Chloe knows a glance to her mom and looks like she knows too.

"So," I continue "you know how people are usually given three strikes? Well, I guess this is your third. Whatever the hell you did you can't do it anymore. Otherwise, I'll be come back, which trust me you don't want that to happen. Especially if I'm called in from vacation." I threaten with an evil grin. The Fates said to scare her, so I'm scaring her.

"I won't let you hurt her!" Hisses her mother, who's still at my side. "She's suffered enough as it is."

"I-I-I," Chloe stops speaking. She swallows and takes a deep breath before starting again. "I didn't mean to break any laws. I didn't even know that _that_ was a law…I'll have to ask Sean for more regalia…" she mutters off.

Her comment freezes me. Sean is a common enough name, but a memory pops up in my mind. Sean, Kristof's youngest son once mentioned a place called Badger Lake. That can't be a coincidence. "Sean? As is Sean Nast?"

Surprise blooms on Chloe's face. "You know him?"

"Yes," Sean is Kristof's eldest son; he's Savannah's elder half-brother and currently running the Nasts Cabal. After his grandfather's murder some time ago he became the new head of the company. Or 

I clear my head, focusing on the young girl in front of me and zoning out her mother. "How do you know Sean? Does your family work for the Nast's?"

Chloe bites her lip before slowly shaking her head. "Not…really. They offered us positions in return for what was done to us. We don't have to work for them…but obviously they want us."

I don't miss her plural terms. "Now… I'm curious. Who else are you talking about? Why do the Nasts want you? What was done to you?"

It's probably not the best idea to just ask her outright, but as soon as she mentioned Sean she doomed herself for a full-blown interrogation. Kristof's son is close to Savannah, the closest in fact of her brothers. And here I find a young girl who speaks as if the Nasts owe her, who was just given her last warning from the Fates…This just doesn't feel right.

"The Nasts want us because-"

"Chloe! There you are!"

We turn to the right where the feminine voice called from but all I see is a German Shepard standing by a tree. It isn't until it barks that I notice it's head is tilted upwards. Raising my gaze I see a Native American girl in a black bikini top and jean shorts standing about thirty feet high on a large branch of the red wood. The wind blows and I see a few locks of long black hair dance around her.

"Maya what are you doing up there?" Chloe asks. Surprisingly enough, she didn't raise her voice.

Maya shrugs. "I thought it would be fun to climb a bit before we went for a swim you know? A sort of warm up, you know when I'm in the forest I lose track of time. I'm sorry." With that said she lifts her foot…

And steps off the branch.

I know I can't do anything, but the way she just casually fell made my stomach drop. Instinctively I almost shout out until she curves in the air then lands perfectly on all fours. Standing up to her full height the darker-skinned girl is closer to my eye level than the petite necro. She saunters over to us, instinctively rolling her hips with a grace that could only be described as feline. A dark spot on her right hip brings my attention to a paw print tattoo. The dog trotting alongside her, while panting with its tongue out.

"Come on, we're late for the barbeque."

"Just a moment." Chloe turns back to me with a grimace on her face. "What's your name again?"

"Eve. Eve Levine."

She nods. "Well, Eve thank you for the message. I'll be sure to keep it in mind while I'm training. If you want to come by later my place isn't that far from here." She nods in the general direction of the road. "It's just down that dirt road, the reddish-brown house." Chloe clarifies.

"Alright."

"Oh, and if you see a girl a couple of years younger then me that's just Liz. She stays in the attic. If you want you can talk to her. Or wait for me. I'll be back later." With one last glance my way Chloe, Maya and the dog leave.

I turn to Chloe's mother. She doesn't seem to have calmed down.

"What is this place?"

Her gaze hardens before she looks my way.

"Find out for yourself. Just don't hurt my daughter or her friends."

Then she vanishes.


End file.
